


Anything but Nothing

by caimani



Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 09:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13995129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: While Otto and Geoff are out on a date, they notice someone having a shitty day. Geoff decides they should do something about that.





	Anything but Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> thank you again rowan for convincing me not to make this angsty or weird  
> (please DON'T read this for the podcast)

So far, this date should be going really well, Otto thinks. Yeah, they’ve come to this cafe a lot of times before, but Geoff loves their milkshakes. This afternoon, Otto and Geoff came here to enjoy some milkshakes before they go to spend the evening at the at the park.

But Geoff doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself like he normally does right now. He keeps looking at something behind Otto with a small frown. Finally, Otto’s had enough of wondering. He sighs and turns around. There’s nothing behind him except a guy sitting at a table near the window. It doesn’t look like anything is happening outside either. 

Otto turns back to Geoff, who still has that sad look on his face. “What are you looking at?” he asks. 

Geoff leans his face into his hand. “I think that guy got stood up,” he says in a whisper.

Otto glances behind him again. The guy at the window is staring at his phone in misery. He looks like he’s on the verge of tears. Then he crosses his arms on the table surface and slumps his head down. A short distance away at the counter, the waitress is looking at him with sympathy.

“Yeah, he probably did.” Otto says to Geoff. 

Geoff sighs and looks at Otto with puppy-dog eyes. 

“What?” Otto says.

“He could use some cheering up,” Geoff says.

At first, Otto is confused. Then realization hits him. Oh no. He leans closer to Geoff. “No. I don’t want some sad third wheel on our date. And if he just got stood up by someone, he’s not going to want to—” Otto breaks off as Geoff actually gets up from their table and starts walking over to the guy at the window.

“Geoff!” Otto whispers loudly.

Geoff sits right down at the guy’s table. The guy lifts his face off his arms.

“Hey,” Geoff says softly. “You alright?”

Otto slaps a hand against his forehead. God, he’s in love with an idiot. A super nice idiot with the biggest heart in the world. Otto gets his wallet out, removes a ten, and leaves it on the table to pay for their milkshakes. 

Then he hurries over to pull a seat over to the window table. It puts him between Geoff and the sad guy. Now that Otto’s actually sort of paying attention to him, he notices a few things. One, the sad guy is actually really cute. Two, his face is definitely damp from crying. And three, he’s wearing the tackiest sweater Otto has ever seen. Seriously, Otto has to stare at it a bit because he can’t believe a human being is actually wearing that. Sad guy pulls it off though.

He also looks taken aback at Otto and Geoff sitting with him. 

“I’m Geoff,” Geoff says. “This is Otto.”

Otto manages a smile. If Geoff wants to be nice to this guy, then he can be nice too. As awkward as this is, Geoff’s probably right about how this guy could use someone friendly to talk to.

“I’m Awsten,” the guy finally says. 

“You okay?” Otto asks.

Awsten shrugs. Instead of telling them to fuck off, like Otto might have expected from anyone else who gets two random strangers sitting down with them, he opens up a bit. “I’m… whatever” Awsten says. “Shitty things happen sometimes, y’know. Sometimes people get dumped over text. Gotta learn how to deal with it.” He starts fiddling with his hands and Otto steals a quick look at Geoff.

Geoff is still looking at Awsten. Otto really hopes that Geoff has some good words of comfort for Awsten, because Awsten’s little speech there was pretty… heavy. Getting dumped over _text_? That’s rough. Even though Otto still knows next to nothing about this guy, he feels pretty bad for him now.

“You doing anything this evening?” Geoff says. 

Otto… was not expecting that. He shoots a quick look at Geoff, but Geoff just puts his hand over Otto’s and pats it comfortingly. Alright, fuck, looks like Geoff has some kind of a plan? 

“Uh…” Awsten says slowly, looking from Otto to Geoff. “Crying alone at home?”

“You can hang out with us,” Geoff offers. 

“What?” Otto blurts out. Goddamnit, is Geoff actually inviting Awsten on their date? Or is he ending the date to go out of his way to comfort this guy? Jeez, Otto loves Geoff’s big heart, but one of these days Otto’s going to come home to five adopted cats and dogs because Geoff just couldn’t leave them. 

“Do you like laser tag?” Geoff asks Awsten. 

Right away, Awsten’s face lights up. “Yeah…” he says, a bit hesitant. “But like… you guys don’t have to do anything. I don’t even know you. You could be serial killers for all I know.”

Otto rolls his eyes. For God’s sake… how can anyone on the face of the planet look at Geoff and think ‘serial killer’? Geoff is literally the embodiment of sunshine and love and every day Otto is amazed he’s his boyfriend. God, Otto would fight Awsten if he didn’t still look so much like a sad kitten. 

Otto says, “You wanna text a picture of us to someone so they can show it to the cops in case you disappear?”

Awsten gives him a funny look, then bursts into laughter. Otto smiles and checks on Geoff, who looks delighted. Finally, they’re getting somewhere with this guy.

“Alright, what the hell, let’s go laser tagging, Geoff and Otto Who I’ve Just Met,” Awsten says, getting up from the table. The waitress waves them all goodbye as they leave.

The laser tag place is only about a ten-minute walk from the cafe, so they all walk there together. Awsten asks if they’re together or just friends, and when they explain, he apologizes for interrupting their date. Geoff and Otto both assure him that he’s fine. And he _is_ fine. Sure, Otto was looking forward to spending time with Geoff, but this is fun too. It’s something he’s never done before with Geoff. And it is more fun playing laser tag with more people.

Once they start playing, Otto learns that Awsten is a fiercely competitive laser tag player. So are Otto and Geoff, which makes for a very strong team. They play game after game with a few different groups of people, winning every single time. As Otto runs into Awsten during each game, he watches the smile on Awsten’s face grow more genuine and more beautiful. Geoff catches him in the middle of one and gives Otto a knowing smirk.

“You’re enjoying this,” he says.

Otto shrugs. “Yeah.”

“He’s cute,” Geoff adds. 

“Yeah, that’s true,” Otto says. 

“Do you think—” Geoff says.

“Maybe,” Otto says. 

They have to split up before they can talk more. At the end of that game, Geoff walks close beside Otto as they exit the laser tag room. He nudges Otto and whispers, “Maybe?”

Otto is silent for a while as they rejoin Awsten. He watches Awsten jump and cheer when he sees that they’ve won again. 

Maybe.

Finally, after five games in total, they leave. Awsten insists on paying for dinner for all three of them, so they return to the cafe and settle in an intimate round booth at the back. Thankfully the waitress from before isn’t here anymore, so an older woman takes their orders and leaves them with their drinks.

“Thanks,” Awsten says as they wait for their food to arrive. “I, uh, I probably would not have dealt with the rest of the day in a very good way. Thanks for all this.”

“Thanks for hanging out with us,” Geoff says. “It was really nice.”

“You can call us whenever you want to do something again,” Otto says. “Or if you want to talk or whatever.”

Awsten is happy to hear that. The three of them exchange contact information and Awsten shows them how he’s saved Geoff as “probably not a serial killer” and Otto as “could still be a serial killer.” Otto would worry about Awsten’s fixation on that topic, but he sees that several other contacts in Awsten’s are also kind of weird. “Pretty voice voyeur man” and “good booty” and “cereal vomit” are a few that Otto notices as Awsten scrolls through his contacts. 

It feels like no time at all when their food arrives. Conversation with Geoff is always easy, and the addition of Awsten doesn’t make things awkward at all. Otto’s having a good time, Geoff is having a good time, and Awsten seems like he’s having a good time too. 

Otto thinks over Geoff’s question from laser tag. 

Maybe.


End file.
